GIE Media Strives To Ensure Message Board Integrity

CLEVELAND — GIE Media, Inc., parent company of the Lawn & Landscape Media Group, has taken legal action to ensure the integrity of the PCTOnline Message Board, which is a sister Web site of Lawn & Landscape Online.

Since they were introduced in September 2000, GIE Media's message boards have become popular virtual communities in which industry professionals gather to ask questions, give advice and share experiences with one another.
Recognizing that the message boards had the potential to be abused, GIE Media included a “Terms of Use” policy — a code of conduct that all message
board participants must follow.

GIE Media recently took additional steps to further protect its users from
abusive participants by filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against one
such individual.

The complaint alleged that during the past two years, the PCTOnline Message
Board had been disrupted by an individual violating the Terms of Use in a
number of ways, including defaming, abusing, harassing and threatening
others using the board. In addition, the complaint alleged that this
individual participated in a number of racially charged exchanges and that
several PCT Message Board users who were offended by the behavior stopped participating on the message board.

GIE Media, acting in accordance with the PCTOnline Message Board’s Terms of Use, took appropriate action by deleting said individual’s offensive posts, informing him of his violations, and finally blocking his IP address.
Despite being banned from the board, the complaint alleged that the
individual regained access to the online service by signing up for user
accounts with false e-mail addresses.

After several written warnings, GIE Media’s next course of action was to
file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court.

Upon being served with the lawsuit, the defendant immediately signed an
Agreed Order to: 1) permanently refrain from accessing directly or indirectly the PCTOnline Message Board, and; 2) permanently refrain from threatening or harassing any of the shareholders, officers, employees, or consultants of the PCT Media Group.

In exchange, GIE Media dismissed, without prejudice, its complaint against the defendant. The Agreed Order was signed by Judge Lesley Brooks Wells in
Cleveland, Jan. 27, 2003.

“Although taking legal action may seem like an extreme measure, GIE Media, Inc. is steadfast in its belief that all of our message board users, as well as our employees, be protected from Internet harassment and personal attacks,” said Richard Foster, president, GIE Media, Inc.

“Our message boards were designed to be educational resources for our customers, providing a valuable venue for the exchange of information with the goal of educating and enhancing the professionalism of our readers throughout the United States and the world,” added Bob West, editor/publisher, Lawn & Landscape Media Group. “We will do whatever is necessary to continue to protect the ‘mission’ of our message boards both now and in the future.”